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Best Free LAN Games for Windows

Other than some Texas Hold'em, Word Racer, and Literati on Yahoo!, I have not been a big computer game player
because I've tended to view them as programming to be analyzed, and not as games to be immersed in.

After having it sit on my desk for five years, I finally installed and have been playing MADDEN 2004 PC for the past month now.

Now that I have the game playing bug, and the time, yesterday I decided to find and snag a few free LAN games to play with my kids on my home network.

After my examination of search engine page returns from a "FREE LAN GAMES" query,
I am amazed at how many nice goodies are available as free downloads.

This is a list of what I think are some of the best currently available freebies.

Bontago
There is not one single person on the face of the planet that does not like to play with blocks. It's one of the fundamental ways we learn. You pick up a block and you instantly have a grasp of sight, weight and texture - then you throw or drop it and you've got an insight into physics. Then begins building...

Domination 1.1.0.6
Domination is a freeware version of the well known boardgame "Risk". It includes a lot of features like different maps, a map editor, and a network play mode. It's great fun for everybody who liked the board game version! The download is a 6.5 MB zip.

Driving Speed 2 2.0.11
Driving Speed 2 is a free high quality racing game for your PC. Choose from four high powered V8 muscle cars and race against up to 11 computer controlled opponents on two touring car circuits. This game has realistic graphics, realistic car physics and performance, high quality sound and AI. Play against your friends over a LAN or internet* with 8 player Multiplayer. Send your fastest lap records to the online lap records where you can see your times against players from all around the world. The latest version 2.0.11 includes championship mode with series events, prize money to purchase cars, purchase upgrades and handling, and pay for repairs.

Easy Tank COMMBAT
This is a remake of the COMBAT game cartridge which came as standard issue with the popular ATARI® 2600 Video Computer System (TM). True to the original, it allows two player battles with both opponents using the same console. Two player battles using two computers linked through a network connection is also supported. In addition, five levels of artificial intelligence provide excellent opponents to help in the development of a winning strategy.

Empire XP 6.0
Empire XP is a Windows version of the classic Risk board game. The object of Empire XP is to occupy every territory on the map, eliminating all other players, thus conquering the world.

Freeciv
Above and beyond all else, Freeciv is about optimizing your production and associated technological growth as it increases along a somewhat exponential curve. Initially, and assuming no production capability is diverted to military units or city development, the number of cities in an empire can be doubled roughly every 11-14 rounds. At some point, either because you've run out of room, or because somebody else has decided they need your land more than you do, production is going to have to be diverted away from sheer growth. The basic objective remains to grow your production and research base, faster than all the other players, whether by expansion, invasion, or judicious alliance.
A large part of the art of Freeciv lies in getting this balance between expansion, technical development, production of military units and city improvements defence and offence activities just right.
Freeciv can be broadly characterised as having three somewhat chronological parts: technical development, expansion, and global warfare. There are occasional cries online for a kinder, gentler Freeciv, but it's fair to say that's not the game most people are playing. The objective for most Freeciv players is to develop a production base capable of producing enough military might to crush every other player in the game.

LAN on Internet 2.0.2.2
LAN-On-Internet (LANoi) is an easy to use P2P application which helps users remotely connect with computers available over the Internet by creating a virtual LAN environment. Users can now exchange files, view documents and edit data such as text documents, music files and even stream high-definition movies between desktops all in real-time while consuming the least possible bandwidth. LANoi supports all existing applications that work over the lan including RDP, NetMeeting, Remote Assistance and popular gaming applications. What sets LANoi apart from other similar applications is its simplicity in usage as it requires absolutely no port-forwarding, thanks to Windows Peer-to-Peer Networking infrastructure. LANoi users get to enjoy the following facilities... priceless! • Play all your favorite LAN games with friends over the Internet like never before. • Share files, chat and troubleshoot problems for friends and colleagues at office from home. • Control any remotely connected PC from your computer screen to print,copy and edit files • Stream and share HD audio/video played in real time at amazingly low bandwidth consumption More… • Connect up to 65,535 users to the inviter session. • Host or join Microsoft NetMeeting over internet. • Remotely access your office or home computer using RDP and VNC. • All this at 0$ monthly subscription fees with no limitations on downloads.

LANPoker
LANPoker features two multiplayer variants of Texas Hold'em: Limit and No Limit. The singleplayer mode also features a training and one 'event' mode. The AI opponents in singleplayer mode can be set to any of seven levels.

ManiaDrive 1.2
ManiaDrive is a free clone of Trackmania, the great game from Nadéo studio, an arcade car game on acrobatic tracks with quick gameplay, features a networked mode. The racing time on the tracks rarely exceeds one minute.

PokerTH 0.9.3
PokerTH is an open source Texas hold 'em simulator for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and GNU/Linux. The game is faithful to the Texas Hold 'em rules and betting system. PokerTH allows for up to ten human players, with computer-controlled players filling in if there are not enough humans. Players can also play against other PokerTH users online.

Soldat
Soldat is an exciting unique side-view multiplayer action game. Played by hundreds of players at this moment. It takes the best from games like Liero, Worms, Quake and Counter-Strike and gives you fast action gameplay with tons of blood and flesh. Little ragdoll soldiers fight against each other on 2D battle arenas using a deadly military arsenal. This is what multiplayer was invented for.

SuperOthello 1.0
SuperOthello is an amazing and perfect remake of the addicting Othello board game! With SuperOthello, you can play the game against the computer, against another player on the same machine, or against another player over the Internet or a LAN! Playing online against a friend is very addicting and fun! Everyone can play the game online, since the game takes very little bandwidth and is very stable!

TeamTalk 4 Conferencing System
TeamTalk 4 is a conferencing system which enables a group of people to collaborate and share information. Every member of a group can communicate with other members in real time using both audio and video. All that is needed is a microphone and a web camera.
Here is a list of the main features:
* Real time audio and video conversations * Instant text messaging * Private rooms/channels for every group of users * File sharing among group members * High quality audio codecs with both mono and stereo * Push-to-talk and voice activation * Record conversations to disk * Standalone server for both LAN and Internet environments * User authentication with accounts * Accessibility for visually impaired
Having these features available makes TeamTalk an excellent choice for online presentations, attending meetings or just do every day chit-chat with friends or collegues, whether they are next door or around the globe.

Teeworlds 0.6.1
A retro multiplayer shooter, Teeworlds is a free online multiplayer game, available for all major operating systems. Battle with up to 16 players in a variety of game modes, including Team Deathmatch and Capture The Flag. You can even design your own maps!

World of Padman
The World of Padman started out as a Quake 3 mod but it has taken on a life of it's own recently with the release of a stand alone version. While there are no current single-player options there are both online and co-op play modes for this quirky game. In the lan game co-op mode you and a few of your friends can go head to head as you attempt to brutally murder each other in a cutesy comic book style.

Wormux
Wormux is a free LAN implementation of the classic 2D Worms and it's just as good. There are several classes of weapons, 28 lovely designed maps and 16 different worm skins.

"I foresee little future in 'the price of silver', I see a huge future for 'the price in silver'." - heartbone"The truth is called hate by those who hate the truth." - K

LAN on Internet!

This utility got me to thinking, and I'm sure that my idea is possible and already being used this way by a few,
but I've not heard anything about it as I'm just getting into this stuff. The next time that I see my MADDEN PS3 enthusiast buddy I'm going to ask if he knows anything about this.

As long as they have a Windows computer with a dial-up or broadband connection,
then using LANoi they should be able to play as if on a Local Area Network.
This should be useful for networked console games which support LAN and don't support IP connections.

Brain fart.

Scratch the idea of the console being able to connect to a virtual LAN using a dial-up connection.

IMO one of the BEST LAN games on the PC is MADDEN.

Apparently there is no LAN play option in those MADDEN NFL console games!!!

This comes as a bit of a surprise to me because the cheaper PC versions had that option,
and they supported connecting by IP as well.
Considering that EA stopped releasing MADDEN NFL for the Wintel PC platform after 2008,
perhaps it should not be a surprise at all.
At $50 per console game disc, I can now see this sly omission being a big part of their strategy of profit maximization.

Now (except for these playing on 'ancient' PC versions), no one can continue the quality experience of network style (single user per screen) NFL football simulation after the EA game servers go down for that particular year!

To network style play next year, one must continue to cough up another $1 a week to the EA coffers for a new disc, otherwise be restricted to playing in old school console style and share the same cluttered view.

On the PC there are whole online communities and leagues dedicated to playing MADDEN in various fashions and formats from managerial to fantasy to tourneys.
The 2008 version has the most activity and support, with the 2004 version being the second most supported because of its franchise implementation.
By support, I'm mainly referring to roster updates, however there is a lot of other activity having to do with internet support of various leagues and franchises.
Unfortunately I waited too long, and Best Buy has totally sold out of $10 MADDEN 08,
so currently the actual cheapest price online for a new DVD seems to be Amazon's $55,
$15 higher than when sold in the big box stores!
Forget that.
I'm sure that I'll eventually see a used one in good condition with the right price.
So I ordered 2 new copies of MADDEN NFL 06 through Amazon on Thursday with standard shipping, and they came on Monday.
The total for both with shipping was $18.80.
This version is not as well supported with updates, but I really don't care about how much the virtual team is like the current team, and the price was right.

"I foresee little future in 'the price of silver', I see a huge future for 'the price in silver'." - heartbone"The truth is called hate by those who hate the truth." - K

Even I have succumbed to the mass waste of resources whoreporate opium NFL.

I ordered MADDEN 08 NFL on July 3rd and it is a blast.
There is a thriving online mod community which supports the sim very well.
Essentially the graphics in MADDEN had not changed until the recent release of MADDEN 13, and still look modern.
Some of the newer gameplay tweaks were also removed,
and the latest game play is essentially the same as that in MADDEN 08.

Unlike the console versions I can modify the PC version.
For example I can display the Playstation or XBOX icons for those who are comfortable with that,
while using their controllers and button configurations.
Add to that the capability of LAN play,
and the ability for CPU (AI) only matchups, which is lacking on the consoles???,
the decision to eliminate the computer version seems rather user hostile.

Moving on...
Check out the Gridiron GamePak (which is "NOT A GAME"), another attempt to improve the situation.

Finally my youngest daughter manages a Fantasy Football team.
She is really into fantasy books and she plays MADDEN, so naturally this interests her.
Playing in a public 'AUTOPICK' league she used my autopick list in the draft,
so of course I have some interest in the team, and make recommendations.
But she manages it and makes all the calls.
She named the team and selected the helmet.http://football.fantasysports.yahoo....&mid1=5&mid2=8
I wonder should I be worried?

This is a blast. Not too hard, not too easy, but just right. Up to 8 at same time.

The unmodified game works well, but to make it work better you'll need to patch it.
To make the original game use USB gamepad/joysticks properly and for some other bug fixes,
you'll need to find and install the v1.19 patches. AdPatch119.exe patches the installed gamead_119_win2k.exemakes the patched game work on modern Windows installationsad119p_nocd.exemakes the patched game work without having the CD mounted

There is a v1.20 patch that I've found but haven't bothered installing, as v1.19 runs fine for me on Windows XP.

Somehow my natural gamer daughter knows exactly how to get behind me 9 out of 10 times, and then proceeds to mercilessly blow me away.

If you don't have access to a LAN then there's this Multiplayer Arena UK web page, although you'll probably need to upgrade to v1.20 to participate.